<p>This is our first year with kid heading to college and so far this system seems very frustrating! There was a screw up on my W-2 that had to be corrected by my employer. While that was being fixed, in early Feb we filled out and submitted the FAFSA without yet having filed the tax return b/c of the wrong W-2. On Feb 15, daughter's school said we were selected for review and needed to do data retreival or submit tax transcript to them within 14 days.
That same day I rec'd my corrected W-2 so we immediately filled in the forms online and submitted electronically, and rec'd email confirmation that IRS had received and "accepted" our tax return. I started checking everyday to see if I could do tax retrieval. We owed $200 which I was going to mail a few days later, but then by chance found out on this forum that could cause further delay! I had no idea! I immediately used a service to pay it by credit card.
If the IRS says it can take 2-3 weeks before a paid return makes it through the system far enough to use data retrieval or order a transcript, how can a parent possibly comply within 14 days to the school's request?? The letter says "in order to be considered for the maximum amount of aid, you must submit all items requested in 14 days".
We filed the original FAFSA well b/f the school's March 1 priorty filing deadline, and immediately started on their follow up request but now I'm worried we will lose much needed aid b/c our tax return seems to be taking forever to show up in the system!
Has this happened to anyone?</p>
<p>You don’t need to send transcripts from IRS. You are fine when the IRS accepts your return.
Just send them photocopies of the tax forms you sent the IRS. Make sure you sign the photocopies where signature is required.</p>
<p>dtchgrl…We e-filed our taxes on Feb 13th and were able to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool on Feb 22nd. I had checked every day since filing, so I know it wasn’t available any earlier than that but at least in some cases the data may be available a little earlier than the advertised 2-3 weeks. Hope everything works out for you. Good Luck!!</p>
<p>Call the school’s financial aid office and explain. You are not the only family pulled for verification who cannot use the tool/get a transcript in the 2 week time frame for one reason or another. As long as the FAFSA has been filed, they will probably be willing to wait for you to use the retrieval tool or get a transcript.</p>
<p>I wish we could just send signed copies of tax return…both the letter and by email and phone they said copies aren’t accepted, has to be data retrieval or transcript only. I think this might be the first year for our school that it has to be only those methods, so they might be surprised with how difficult it might be for many to comply within 14 days.
I did send them an email explaining the time frame given by the IRS and that I was checking everyday, but they just said “we ask that you comply within 14 days”. Geez.
And i really wish I had know that the IRS might not start the process of making it available for retrieval/transcript until any balance was paid. I think that could have delayed us another 5 days at least. Ugh.
Remembering to check the system every day, only to find out its still not available is a pain!</p>